Policy review: thoughts on addressing population and climate change in a just and ethical manner

Many believe that linking population growth to the issue of climate change will help to place family planning back into the political realm as an urgent matter of national and environmental security. Others worry, however, that focusing on the environmental impacts of demographic change places at risk the hard-fought and long-developed global consensus that individual rights and empowerment are what matters most in fostering sustainable development and stabilizing population growth. This paper focuses on United States population policy. It presents a brief historical background and summarizes the state of scientific evidence regarding the impacts of population growth on climate change. It then analyzes some of the underlying ethical issues involved in advancing an advocacy argument around increasing family planning as a way to slow population growth and mitigating climate change. Finally, it recommends a way in which advocates can frame the connections between population growth and climate change in a just and ethical manner.     

Methodological problems and policy implications in sexual harassment research

This paper argues that the ability of social research to influence legal arguments and policy decisions on sexual harassment in the workplace has been stymied by several methodological problems which are shared by most major studies on the topic. Determination of the incidence of harassment and its major sub-types is difficult because of problems with sampling (e.g., response rate, sample size) and instrument construction (e.g., number or variety of harassment categories). Additionally, severity of harassment is rarely treated as a variable. Several resolutions to these problems are presented. First, estimates of the proportion of women who have experienced harassment, as well as the proportion having experienced the major sub-types of harassment, are derived. Second, a mutually exclusive and exhaustive set of sexual harassment categories, which includes harassment types that have evolved recently from legal decisions and policy developments, is discussed. Finally, an outline of factors which might be used to assess harassment severity is presented. Resolving these issues will provide social scientists and non-scientists alike with clearer answers to the ‘How much?’, ‘Which types?’ and ‘How serious?’ questions about harassment.     

Approaches,assaults, attractions,affairs: Policy implications of the sexualization of the workplace

This article is an analysis of the relationship between, on the one hand, empirical findings and theoretical perspectives on the sexualization of the workplace and, on the other, changes in public policy intended to prevent and eliminate sexual harassment as a problem for employed women. The sexualization on the workplace is conceptualized as all consensual and coerced sexual interactions at work, that is, both sexual harassment and sexual relationships. A summary of the evidence regarding both types of behaviors reveals that sexual harassment is experienced quite often by women workers; occasionally, women engage in sexual relationships with persons met at work. Harassment has significant negative consequences for the economic, emotional and physical condition of women, delimiting further an economic position for women which has already been affected severely by occupational segregation and employment discrimination. In assessing the impact of guidelines of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defining sexual harassment as sexual discrimination, issues are raised concerning the use and effectiveness of the guidelines by women workers, courts, and employers. It is argued that public policy on harassment is necessary and progressive but limited in its impact; the bulk of the problem, especially with regard to co-worker behavior, and the structural context of inequality are left relatively untouched.This article is a revision of a presentation given at the Labor Studies Colloquium, the Society for the Study of Social Problems (August 1984).     

Emerging issues in urban ecology: implications for research,social justice,human health,and well-being

Urbanization affects landscape structure and the overall human condition in numerous ways. Green spaces include vegetated land cover (e.g., urban forests, trees, riparian zones, parks) which play a distinctive role in urban ecology. This article reviews emergent literature on the linkages between urban green spaces, social justice, and human health. We explore this subject in the context of landscape structure, ecosystem services, and distributional equity as it relates to various health outcomes. Finally, we conclude by identifying gaps in the scholarship and potential areas of future research.     

从政策生育率看中国生育政策的多样性

以政策生育率为量化指标以期具体地反映我国的生育政策在地区分布、人口分布和地理分布上的多样性。本文的分析表明 ,1 3～ 1 5之间的政策生育率都在全国占主导地位 ,全国人口的大多数处于 1 3～ 2 0之间的政策生育率地区 ,实行“1 5孩”生育政策的人口占全国的一半以上。从本文可以得出结论 ,在鼓励“少生”的总原则下 ,从当地的实际出发 ,全国各地的生育政策呈现出相当多样化的情况 ,把中国的生育政策笼统地归结为是一个不加区别的、全国一律的“一孩政策”是不符合实际的     

Educational Attainment and Policy

Social Indicators Research - This article focuses on the levels and quality of educational attainment in Korea. To what extent have the Korean people attained a formal education, attending primary,...     

生育政策调整目标人群总量与预期效果再检验

本文回顾以往采用宏观汇总数据和微观个案数据研究生育政策调整中存在的问题,认为在缺少两代人生育史的数据条件下研究"单独"二孩生育政策目标人群总量、结构是非常困难的。本文以2005年1%人口抽样调查、2013年国家卫计委生育意愿调查、2014年人口变动抽样调查和2015年1%人口抽样调查数据为基础,对不同来源的相同队列"单独"、"双非"育龄妇女比例数据进行对比,分析结果显示国家统计局2014年和2015年抽样调查数据具有高度的一致性和可靠性。在"单独"二孩政策调整前,如果单纯使用2005年和2013年调查数据将高估独生子女比例和"单独"一孩育龄妇女总量。根据2014年、2015年调查数据推断这两年"单独"一孩育龄妇女占全部一孩育龄妇女的比例在10%左右,"单独"二孩政策目标人群在1 500万以内,达到或超过1 500万的可能性几乎不存在。2015年"单独"一孩育龄妇女生育二孩总量在50万左右,远远低于国家卫计委200万左右的预期。2015年"双非"一孩育龄妇女占全部一孩育龄妇女的比例为85%左右,全面两孩政策新增目标人群在8 500万左右,达到或超过9 000万的可能性很小。即使没有全面两孩生育政策,2015年非农业"双非"生育二孩也在130万以上,而农业"双非"生育二孩在250万以上。     

Conceptual and ethical problems underpinning calls to abandon vaginal breech birth

The view that vaginal breech birth is unjustifiable due to neonatal safety concerns has resulted in continued calls for breech pregnancies to be managed via a policy of planned caesarean birth. Vaginal breech birth has of course always occurred, but women with term breech pregnancies who seek to have a vaginal birth often face coercive pressures to have a caesarean birth instead. In this paper I argue that even if there is population level evidence that vaginal birth is relatively riskier for the breech presenting fetus, implementing a policy of planned caesarean birth would essentially be an unjustified attempt at forced medical intervention upon women. Advocates of a policy of planned caesarean birth often conflate the acceptability of allocating participants to a treatment group (policy) within the context of a randomized controlled trial with the justifiability of doing that as part of individual health care. Calls for obstetricians to “abandon vaginal breech birth” mistakenly position vaginal breech birth itself as a form of medical intervention that can simply be removed as an option for women by obstetricians. In reality, abandoning vaginal breech birth would entail abandoning women by denying them access to healthcare options that are otherwise available to any woman having a vaginal birth.     

Public Policy and Diffusion of Innovation

Marketers have traditionally studied diffusionof innovation with a primary focus on theindividual consumer as a unit of analysis, themajor types of findings being characteristicsof adopter categories and opinion leadership. We propose that this perspective is notadequate from a macromarketing perspective, inwhich the goals are to set public policy forsocietal good or to create an environment whichenables the diffusion of an innovation in a waythat no single marketer could do alone. Insetting public policy which can enable (orinhibit) diffusion of innovation for societalgood, a system composed of a mass socialinfrastructure, a competitive infrastructure,and a technical infrastructure should beconsidered.     

家庭变迁、家庭政策演进与中国家庭政策构建

从中国家庭变迁和中国家庭政策演进两个方面,以西方发达国家和中国为视角,对中国自20世纪80年代起至今30多年来家庭政策研究进行梳理、总结和分析,提出构建中国家庭政策的建议。中国家庭呈现出核心、主干、联合家庭此消彼长、波动往复的变迁特点,“家本位”价值观占主导地位;同时中国现有家庭政策体现出概念范围宽泛、目标指向含蓄、补救型模式的三大主要特征,也表现出“家庭主义”、“去家庭化”和两者平衡的三阶段演进历程。未来中国家庭政策的构建要围绕中国家庭的两大特点———稳健的“主干家庭”和绵延的“家本位”价值观念,以平衡的发展型家庭政策为取向,向政策概念范围精准、目标指向明确、系统普惠型模式的方向发展。     

Policy View: Immigration,Population Policy,and the Sierra Club

Population and Environment -     

科技产业人才政策效应的实证分析

文章以现场访谈和问卷调查为研究手段,对现行人才政策在科技产业中的实际功效及其变化趋势、人才接受继续教育情况、人才物质待遇、影响科技奖励制度激励效果的原因、影响人才流动的障碍因素等问题做了实证分析,并提出了完善科技产业人才政策的若干建议。     

Environmental Conditions and Governmental Fiscal Policy

Social Indicators Research - The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the Korean government's financial policy regarding the environment and its resulting effects on domestic...     

论计划生育政策的完善与调整——基于公共政策视角

我国妇女生育率已经稳定在更替水平之下20多年且将持续运行。文章从公共政策视角出发探究在低生育水平下未来生育政策和计划生育工作的取向,研究结果认为计划生育政策和计划生育工作的积极效用是值得肯定的。但是,在新的人口形势下必须对其进行改革。从公共政策效用来看,现有严格的计划生育政策对于其他公共政策需求压力增大,带来一系列较高的执行成本,需要适时对其进行调整和完善,把握好公共政策的整体性和预见性,使计划生育工作和政策可以发挥积极的引导和激励作用,促进和实现人口的长期均衡发展。     

中国财政政策、货币政策的就业效应--基于面板向量自回归模型的研究

以中国省级面板数据为基础,采用面板向量自回归模型估计了财政政策、货币政策对中国就业与经济增长的影响,结果发现:第一,扩张性财政政策对城镇就业和经济增长都有很强的促进作用;第二,增加货币供给的扩张性货币政策对城镇就业的促进作用有限,然而对经济增长有很强的促进作用;第三,降低利率的货币政策对城镇就业和经济增长的促进作用有限,并且要滞后两年才能显现出来.因此,为了促进就业增长,应当以扩张性的财政政策为主,同时辅之以增加货币供给的扩张性货币政策,以发挥其促进经济增长的作用,从而夯实就业增长的基础.鉴于利率对就业和经济增长的影响具有滞后性,应当保持利率政策的稳定性.     

对“农村部分计划生育家庭奖励扶助制度”的评估与建议

在部分农村计划生育家庭奖励扶助养老制度试点一年多后,运用在贵州、湖北、河南和江苏四省试点地区的调查资料,从群众对政策内容的认同、对政策运行过程的看法、对政策效果的认同和对政策的信任度等方面,对奖扶制度进行评估。总体而言,奖扶制度是一项受到农村绝大多数干部和群众赞成的政策,政策的运行机制是一项很有价值的创新。但政策中有关奖扶对象的确认标准和对象的认定程序等还有待完善。     

国外人口政策法规概观

1974— 1 994年的近 2 0年间 ,约有 50个国家明确制订了人口政策 ,有 1 0多个国家将有关人口与计划生育政策的条文写入了宪法。各国人口政策的基本框架大都相同 ,都包含了政策的理论基础、政策目标等。各国政府对人口问题的态度不一 ,关心的焦点也不尽相同。而我国必须加强人口与计划生育工作的法制建设 ,为实现可持续发展的目标创造良好的环境     

White-nonwhite differentials: Overview and implications

This paper reviews the arguments for maintaining a separate series of statistics for the white and nonwhite populations of the United States; only by maintaining factual data will it be possible to document inequality and discrimination. It then summarizes some white-nonwhite differentials: fertility, life expectancy, health, school attendance, educational attainment, and income. The human, social, and political implications are then reviewed.     

论生育政策与中国人口老龄化

中国人口老龄化主要是由生育率下降引起的.人口生育率急速的下降与我国严格的生育政策紧密相联.但计划生育政策不是中国人口老化的根本原因,是使人口老化加快的主要原因.面对世纪之交的中国人口的低生育率、低惯性增长和过快的人口老化的新形势,有必要重新审视我们的现行生育政策并予以调整.作者主张,从现行追求低生育率控制人口数量的生育政策宜调整为低生育率与调控结构并举的生育政策.